This chapter is a bonus chapter for the "Talented People Across the Land" award.
Lightning is a stallion, without a doubt.
To find out how old it was, Liszt forcibly pried open its mouth so Marcus could examine its teeth.
A normal stallion has 40 teeth, including 12 incisors, 4 canines, and 24 molars. Mares have no canines and only 36 teeth.
To determine a horse's age, primarily look at its incisors.
"Incisors are divided into front teeth, intermediate teeth, and decayed teeth. Front teeth are the central incisors, while decayed teeth are the peripheral incisors. Intermediate teeth are the incisors between the front teeth and decayed teeth. Incisors go through two stages: the deciduous stage, which is what we call baby teeth, and the permanent stage."
While observing, Marcus also explained things to Liszt and his Retainer Knight, never forgetting his duties as tutor and instructor of the knights.
Within the first year of a foal's life, the deciduous incisors grow in 1-2 weeks, the deciduous intermediate teeth grow in 3-6 weeks, and the deciduous cavities grow in 6-8 months, causing the upper and lower deciduous teeth to not close properly.
At two and a half years old, the baby incisors fall out and the permanent incisors grow in. By the age of three, the upper and lower permanent incisors are in contact, which is commonly known as "growing in full".
At three and a half years old, the primary intermediate tooth fell out and the permanent intermediate tooth grew in. At four years old, the permanent intermediate tooth was fully grown in. At four and a half years old, the primary decayed tooth fell out and the permanent decayed tooth grew in. At five years old, the permanent decayed tooth was fully grown in.
He pointed to Lightning's perfectly closed incisors and said, " Lightning's incisors are in neat contact; these are all permanent teeth, so its age is over five years old. After five years, we need to determine its age based on the black pit in the center of the tooth."
The depth and time taken for the black spots to fade can indicate a horse's age from 6 to 11 years old. Once the black spots have completely disappeared, changes in the shape, size, and position of the incisor teeth marks can indicate a horse's age from 13 to 18 years old.
"If Lightning were an ordinary warhorse, it would be around eight years old," Marcus concluded after his observation.
However, he added, "Many excellent warhorses are mixed-breed magical beast stallions or Dragon-Blood Horse. Estimating their age based on their teeth will have some error. Using Lightning's magical beast stallion bloodline to correct for this error, it may already be 10 years old, or even older."
The development of monster stallions and Dragon-Blood Horse is not much different from that of ordinary horses, but the enhancement of their bloodline makes their teeth better and more durable.
The rate at which the black spots wear away and the rate at which the tooth marks disappear will both slow down accordingly.
Marcus, unaware that the Li Dragon Horse possessed dragon blood, estimated it to be ten years old, while Liszt silently corrected Dragon-Blood Horse to deduce that Lightning's age should be twelve.
It is a fine horse in its prime.
"I'll ride Lightning to get used to it, and you, Professor Marcus, should also select a group of Li Dragon Horse to tame," Liszt said with a smile, looking at the herd of horses lingering not far away, reluctant to leave the King of Horses.
Marcus took a deep breath and knelt on one knee. "Thank you, sir!"
In his mind, the value of a Li Dragon Horse was probably more than a hundred gold coins, which was a tremendous blessing. He couldn't help but treat it with great care—if he knew it was Dragon-Blood Horse, and its breeding ability was preserved, its value could be calculated in Dragon Coin; even if it was gelded, it would still be worth a thousand gold coins.
I'm afraid I'd have to prostrate myself and perform a full kneeling ceremony.
After accepting Marcus's kneeling bow, Liszt said calmly, "The bloodline of the Li Dragon Horse is very strong. Before they go to the battlefield, they will be raised as stallions to continue expanding the herd."
"That's only right!" Marcus wholeheartedly agreed.
Then, with trembling legs, he walked towards the herd of Li Dragon Horse Li Dragon Horse, determined to tame one that belonged to him!
The Retainer Knight looked at Marcus with envy; they were not worthy of riding such a fine horse and could only ride nags.
A gentle breeze blows, and the sun shines warmly.
Riding steadily on his horse, Liszt let the Lightning roam freely.
His thoughts had already jumped to another matter. " Li Dragon is the name of my mount in the castle. I originally thought there was only one, so I named it 'Li' because it was pure black. Now that there are so many Li Dragon Horse, is Li Dragon the name of one horse or the name of a group of horses?"
In the end, her feelings for the Li Dragon prevailed.
"Let's use 'Li Dragon' as a separate horse name, just like my 'Fire Dragon Horse '... The current herd should have a new breed name... Grand Duke Sapphire has Blue Blood Steed, perhaps I can have a herd of Black Blood Steed?"
We are all Dragon-Blood Horse; none of us is more noble than the others.
"However, it seems that the Blue Blood Steed isn't actually blue... Oh well, the Black Blood Steed sounds much better, just like the Akhal-Teke Horse, it sounds like the name a top-tier steed should have."
Thus, the pure black Dragon-Blood Horse acquired an official name.
The Li Dragon will still be the Li Dragon, but it is foreseeable that its status will decline significantly in the future, giving way to Li Dragon 'Liszt new mount—the Horse King Lightning!
Strictly speaking, Lightning is no longer pure black; it has a small tuft of purplish-red hair on its forehead.
It has a palm-sized Lightning symbol shaped like the Lightning.
It added a lot of prestige.
Perhaps it was because Lightning was highly intelligent, but after being tamed by Liszt, it seemed to know about the close relationship between Dousen and Liszt, and therefore its fear of Dousen quickly disappeared. Even when Dousen was right next to it with his mouth wide open, emitting a deep roar, it did not run away.
She even raised her head and gave Dousen a disdainful snort.
The Lightning was at least four meters tall, while Dousen was only 1.9 meters tall, less than half the height, forcing him to crane his neck to meet Lightning gaze. This undoubtedly made Dousen feel humiliated, and coupled with the resentment of having his master "stolen," Dousen wanted nothing more than to bite the black horse to death, but he couldn't.
It was like how it desperately wanted to kill the Li Dragon Horse, but dared not.
"Woof woof!"
"Pfft!"
One dog barked, the other snorted; it was unclear what they were communicating.
The initial exploration of Black Horse Island concluded after the Lightning, the Horse King.
Liszt and Marcus, each riding Black Blood Steed, led their Retainer Knight and sailors back to Rocky Wharf. Unexpectedly, the herd of horses followed them to the vicinity of the dock.
The horse king still cherishes their love.
" The Black Blood Steed herd has been located. This voyage is complete. We will depart for home tomorrow," Liszt ordered. "From now on, the development of Black Horse Island will be on the agenda. First, we need to establish a temporary base here. While there is still some time before nightfall, let's clear out the area around the dock."
"Yes, sir!"
Once the temporary outpost is established, the sailors and their families will be relocated to Black Horse Island to prevent news of Black Horse Island from leaking out.
Once the news of the Black Blood Steed is leaked, it will likely attract the attention of those who covet it.
Once they discover the value of the Black Blood Steed, they will spare no effort to seize it. The only time for Black Horse Island to emerge will be when Liszt achieves military merit and is granted a viscountship and fiefdom. In the present stage, Black Horse Island will develop slowly under the covert support of Flower Town.
Time flies like an arrow; a night has passed in the blink of an eye.
The next morning, after riding Lightning around the docks, Liszt reluctantly released Lightning back to the herd—he had no intention of taking the Black Blood Steed back with him.
Marcus did the same, releasing his tamed " Black Baleful Intent " back into the wild.
Lightning and Black Baleful Intent quickly blended into the herd of horses, but they would raise their heads to gaze at the sea, watching the sailboat slowly turn around and eventually disappear into the horizon.